• About

Notes from the Wasteland

Notes from the Wasteland

Monthly Archives: September 2015

An Aristocrat Who Stood for Labor: Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler

07 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Christopher Zehnder in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

By Christopher Zehnder

What follows comes from my book, Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World. For more information on this book, please visit the site of the Catholic Textbook Project.

File:Droste-vischering.jpg

Clemens August von Droste-Vischering

It was silent night, November 20, 1837. By order of the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III, troops surrounded the archiepiscopal palace in Köln, on the lower Rhine in Germany. Escorted by police, the governor of the province entered the palace and arrested the 64-year-old archbishop, Clemens August von Droste-Vischering. After being taken from his diocese, the archbishop was imprisoned at the fortress of Minden, about 147 miles northeast of Köln. Such was the price Clemens August had to pay for defending the rights of the Church against the Prussian government.

Archbishop Droste-Vischering had insisted that children of mixed marriages (between Catholics and Protestants) had to be raised Catholic. The Prussians, who had taken control of the very Catholic Rhineland in 1815, insisted that in such marriages some children had to be raised Catholic and others, Protestant. This had been the custom in Prussia. The Catholic Church in the Rhineland, said the Prussians, also had to go along with this custom. But, no matter how long-standing the custom was, it violated the law of the Catholic Church—and in a contest between the king and the Church, Archbishop Droste-Vischering knew whom he had to obey.

The imprisonment of Archbishop Droste-Vischering was an inspiration to many German Catholics. It even influenced one young nobleman to change his career plans. The 26-year-old Baron Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler had been preparing to enter the service of the Prussian government; but with the archbishop’s arrest and imprisonment, Ketteler decided he could not serve a government that committed such injustices. Instead, he ended up studying theology; and in 1844, he was ordained a priest.

Continue reading →

Advertisement

Recent Posts

  • A Tale of the Reformation: A Song for Else: The Vow.
  • Vatican II, Tradition, and Religious Liberty: Some Thoughts on a Contentious Issue
  • The Humility, and Glory, of Water: Thoughts on the Baptism of Christ
  • Pity and Indignation in Dante’s Inferno
  • Were Medieval Germans Secret Pagans?

Archives

  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • August 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • March 2018
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • January 2013
  • May 2012

Categories

  • Culture
  • Social justice
  • Theological musings
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Notes from the Wasteland
    • Join 29 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Notes from the Wasteland
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar